


Let me slip away

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Asexual Character, Attempted Seduction, Friendship, Gen, Hellfire Club, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mind Control, Misunderstandings, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:47:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29606178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Sage is back from a mission, and she hasn't checked in yet. A concerned Bishop goes to investigate, and is startled to be faced with Tessa.
Relationships: Lucas Bishop & Tessa | Sage
Comments: 14
Kudos: 9





	Let me slip away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TriffidsandCuckoos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriffidsandCuckoos/gifts).



> Title by Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional, which in my mind is a very Sage song.  
> For TriffidsandCuckoos who got me into this friendship, with big thanks to InsertSthMeaningful for their beta.
> 
> This was inspired by X-Men Unlimited (2004) #6, but you don't need to have read it as the situation is explained within the fic.

"Bishop?" A girl's voice made him jump, and he was already planning angles of attack when he turned around and saw Kitty standing there, shifting her weight awkwardly from side to side. Of course it was Kitty. There was no one else that it could be - he'd locked the door to the range to keep the kids out. He'd been stressed all day, after hearing that Sage's plane had started taking on water. He'd already felt uneasy.

Not about the mission. He had no doubt that she could handle that.

He just hadn't liked the idea of her and Emma in an enclosed space for several hours.

"What is it, Kitty?" Bishop asked, taking a deep breath. He had hoped Kitty would keep things from going south, but when Sage hadn't checked in the moment she got back, he'd gone down to the range. He was protective over her - over all his friends, but he felt like he had to worry extra for Sage, because he was the only one she would even tolerate a hint of concern from. 

He supposed that was flattering, in a way. But he also knew that someone had to care about her. And the others knew they were friends.

"It's... it's Sage," Kitty admitted. "She seemed weird, ever since we got out. And she asked if I could tell you to go to your room, so I did, but... could you check she's okay?"

"Sure." He frowned. "Mission go south?"

"No more south than normal." Kitty shrugged. "We got stuck underwater for a bit and Ororo found it tough, but we got out. But Sage seemed… off. So you'll-"

"I'll check on her," Bishop promised, and Kitty grinned back at him brightly before exiting back through the wall. He headed up to his room, knocking on the door before letting himself in.

Sage stood by the window in her Hellfire outfit. She turned to face him, a bright smile on her face, and he cursed under his breath. Goddamn telepaths. Always getting possessed. He thought back to his training. Sage was probably the hardest of his friends to fight - she could train in anything, and her attacks weren't predictable. Still, he could manage this. At least she'd taken off her glasses, which might slow her down a little.

"Hey, Sage," he greeted her, trying to fake a smile of his own. "Kitty said she was worried about you-" He paused as she walked over on those impossible heels, lifting her hand up to his chest and pushing him back against the wall. 

"Shush," she ordered.

"Sage-" he tried to reason with her, and she shook her head. 

"Don't... don't call me that." She leaned in to try and kiss him, and he pushed her back, not hard, just enough that he could get away from her. He grabbed his dressing gown, thinking he could wrap her in it if necessary. 

"Okay, okay, Sa- Okay. We can do this. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Please, just..." she started, and then shook her head. He saw the moment the fight left her, her shoulders slumping, that careful posture sinking down. He reached out with his dressing gown, wrapping it over her shoulders.

She clutched it around herself, making her way over to his desk, and he sat down in the chair nearby. He waited in silence - he knew it did no good to pressure Sage. She'd talk when she was ready.

"I can take your memories of it away if you want," Sage offered, and Bishop frowned. That wasn't like Sage. The sheer utilitarian use of the situation might have been in character, but the Sage he knew wouldn't let her firewall drop for the five seconds or so it would take to do that.

"Sage?"

"Yes?" She sounded so uncertain it hurt his heart, but he was careful to keep his voice casual. 

"Where did you even get that?"

"Emma had it." Sage shrugged a little, swamped by his dressing gown. She kicked off the heels, curling up a little on his desk.

"Okay." He kept his voice gentle. He knew she knew he was doing that, but he also knew it would work. "You want to tell me what all that was about?"

"Not particularly," she answered, before straightening a little and muttering, "Ororo was having an attack of claustrophobia because we were underwater. We got out."

"That doesn't explain what you're doing in my bedroom smiling," Bishop pointed out. "Sage, you don't smile unless you're possessed. What did Emma do? Is she still in there?"

"No," Sage snapped, crossing her arms. "I don't let her in. And anyway... it wasn't her. It was Ororo."

Bishop frowned for a moment, trying to work out how exactly Ororo's claustrophobia could possibly have led to Sage appearing in his bedroom in this kind of state, and drew a blank. 

"We don't all have super-computer brains, Sage. Gonna need you to fill in some gaps."

"They were talking about dates," Sage answered. "Kitty said about this time her and Piotr went out, and Emma talked about the men she'd been with."

"Okay?" Bishop felt like he was beginning to see the picture. Still, he couldn't imagine Sage deciding she was short on sex and deciding to get it from him of all people. "So they talked about dates."

"They asked me. I explained that I hadn't... Aside from Sebastian Shaw and his friends, I have no dating stories." She flicked a stray strand of hair out of her face. "And then Storm got us out."

"Okay." Bishop blinked. "So you decided to seduce me?"

"I wasn't deciding." Sage shrugged. "I mean. It was a decision. But. Storm saved our lives, and she said in return I had to go out on a date. With any man. To make up for lost time." Sage's voice was quieter now, and she was trembling. He remembered the nightmares he'd seen, the way she'd fought around Bogan.

"You got a crush on me?"

"Hardly." Sage sounded slightly like herself there, which was a relief. "I worked out that based on what I had seen from you both in the field and out of it, you were unlikely to be violent unless provoked. Combined with your irritating urge to be nurturing when one of us is injured, and the fact you consider me a friend, alongside the fact that you are currently not in a relationship and therefore more likely to respond positively... you were the most obvious choice."

"You sound like yourself," Bishop told her with a slight sense of pride, and she nodded.

"So. I told you my reasoning. Do you want me to get on the bed or-?"

"Woah. No." Bishop crossed his arms. "Sage, I am absolutely not sleeping with you."

"I can get... other clothes. I just thought it would work better if I was able to focus on the Tessa persona, keep it separate from... from who I am now."

"You don't have to... you don't have to go on a date with someone just because Storm told you to."

"I am working on reforming my character. People look at me, and they see someone who was an enemy for a decade. I can't... I can't afford to break my promises, Bishop. Storm knows that."

"Fuck." Bishop took a deep breath. He was furious. Not at Sage, but at Storm for daring to put Sage in this kind of position. He wanted to march out and yell at her. But Sage was frightened, even if she was hiding it well. He nodded.

"Okay. So. A date." He shrugged. "How do you want a date to go?"

"I didn't want to take that long off work, I've got some rendering and scanning running on the computer so I thought it would be better to skip a meal or whatever and go straight to..." She stared down at her discarded shoes. "To whatever you fancied."

"You can access your computers through whatever interface, right?" Bishop asked, trying to work out how he could possibly fix this. Sage nodded.

"Alright. I've got a spare pair of your glasses in my desk, a tablet you can borrow and some of your spare clothes in my wardrobe. I'll go wait in the corridor while you get dressed, and we can watch a film while you do your computer-stuff, and we'll order that pizza you like. And then after I'm gonna go down to the range, and you go do whatever you want. And that's it. That's a date."

"It doesn't sound like a date."

"That's the best thing about dating. Dates can be whatever you want them to be, long as both of you have a good time. We'll have a date, as friends, and then you don't owe Ororo. And I'll talk to her."

"You will?"

"She should know better than to put you in this situation, Sage. You shouldn't feel you have to date anyone, not if you don't want to."

"Thanks." She looked at him, and he could see the slight quirk to her lip that meant she was really smiling. "It...sounds good."

"Any time. This one's a date, as friends, and any other time we hang out isn't. Agreed?"

"Agreed." 

He walked over to his wardrobe, grabbing some spare clothes in her size, and then left the room. After a minute, there was a knock from inside, and she opened the door, dressed in a black t-shirt and leggings, her glasses in place. She made her way over to his couch, frowning and then focusing again as things on the screen caught her attention.

"You want popcorn for the film?" he offered, and she nodded, all the tension gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Please do comment, it makes me so happy.


End file.
